Friday, September 26, 2008

... is that I've probably blogged more this week than I usually do in a month. I miss the days when I spent tons of time reading the news and other blogs and posting away. However, times change and I generally don't have the time for that any more. Which brings us to the bad news, which is that the only reason I have time to do this is that I've been home sick pretty much all week. Oh well, at least I get to blog a little!

Saturday, July 19, 2008

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

I just had to wade through 3 separate warning pages from my Google toolbar to get the The American Spectator website. Once I finally got through, it put up a big red warning bar at the top of the page.

One of the warnings had an "about" page that claimed that the site had been identified as a host of trojan software. Curiously, it said that the last known problem occurred on 4/5/08 and I KNOW I've been there since then with no problems.

Thursday, May 29, 2008

HOSPITAL workers in Britain were left stunned after a couple reportedly abandoned IVF twin girls immediately after giving birth because they weren't boys.

The couple of Indian heritage but who live as British citizens in the city of Birmingham told medical staff directly after the Caesarean section delivery they weren't going to accept the girls as they were the "wrong sex", UK tabloid The Sun reported.

Thursday, May 15, 2008

One of the most enduring stereotypes spread by religious people about atheists is that we are "angry". Some particularly creative apologists add the detail that what we are truly angry at is God - which is impossible, by definition, since a person must first believe in God as a precondition of being angry at God - or that we react with anger or hostility to the mere mention of the religious beliefs of others. However, many theists who make this claim leave it at stating that atheists carry around some kind of generalized, diffuse anger at everything and nothing.

I don't really know if this is accurate or not. That is to say, I don't know if religious people actually "spread" these stereotypes or not. While I've personally met some angry atheists, I wouldn't say it's not a general quality of being an atheists. I can't say that I've ever heard anyone say these things either, but that certainly doesn't mean they aren't being said.

The closest I've ever come to hearing any of these is the "angry at God thing". I've not ever heard anyone say that actual atheists are angry at God. I have heard of, and actually met, people who had previously been very religious and later abandoned their religion when something bad happened in their lives. They claimed to be atheists, but when pressed it was obvious that the truth was that they still believed in God, they were just very pissed off at him.

None of that, however, is what this post is really about. One of the arguments, and I summarize greatly so I hope I'm not misrepresenting things, that is is put forth in this article is that there's actually a great deal of hate from religious people directed at atheists. Perhaps moreso than the other way around. To make this point the author quotes a lot of really vile hate messages directed from people who purported to be Christians (or at least religious) at very atheists.

To serve as contrast, the author then quotes a post I put up several years ago.

Ironically, the evidence that religious people adduce to prove that atheists are angry usually never even approaches this level of vitriol. Consider the following e-mail, held up by a Christian blogger as an example:

You think you know the truth? Do you talk to god? Why are you blindly supporting bush, and his boys? Because bush is a christian? That's the problem with christians. They take a fairy tale (the bible), and make it the truth. Since you know the truth, this is a waste of my time writing you. But I had to vent, because you people (all religions) are ****** up this planet.

This e-mail is certainly harshly worded and none too polite. But does it even approach the level of hate on display above? Does it display the drooling lust for violence that much of the religious hate mail shows? Does it threaten the poster personally, or attack his sexuality or personal appearance? No. It criticizes his beliefs and his actions, heatedly to be sure, but that is still a far cry from the psychopathic spasms of rage regularly targeted at atheists who speak out. However uncivil the language, this was neither a threat nor an ad hominem attack, whereas atheists regularly experience both. Too many religious individuals, when criticizing atheists for their supposed anger, confuse strong criticism with personal attacks.

The problem is , of course, that I never said this e-mail proved anything of the sort. Here is the post, in it's entirety.

After more than 2 years of blogging, I got my first genuine piece of hate mail today. Say hello to whipzippy@aol.com.

You think you know the truth? Do you talk to god? Why are you blindly supporting bush, and his boys? Because bush is a christian? That's the problem with christians. They take a fairy tale (the bible), and make it the truth. Since you know the truth, this is a waste of my time writing you. But I had to vent, because you people (all religions) are ****** up this planet.

Well, on the bright side he's got better grammar than your average hate mailer. But here's a tip, he complains that it's a waste of my time talking to me because I think I already know the truth, yet he makes no arguments of any kind. What exactly do I have my mind made up about? Well, obviously he dislikes both Bush and God, but we have no idea why.

Oh well, I'm officially hated now. Must be doing something right.

From the author's comments, you'd think that I was holding up this post as evidence that atheists are haters. I certainly didn't "adduce [the e-mail] to prove that atheists are angry." In fact, I specifically state that it's the first piece of hate mail I'd ever received. (And even now, years later, I rarely receive e-mail of any kind.)

I don't doubt the author that their are religious people who go around accusing atheists of hatred, but I'm not one of them. I certainly have met a few angry atheists, but I've never held that up as proof of anything. In fact, I thought the whole posting was pretty flip and I thought the whole "must be doing right thing" made that pretty evident.

In short, I have no earthly idea why I got dragged into this.

Since I'm here, let me note a few other things. This article involves a classic case of arguing from anecdotal evidence. The author quotes lots of examples on one side and a single example on the other. (If you can even count my post, which I don't.) Plainly this was designed to build up the impression that hate mail against atheists is far more common than hate mail from atheists. That may be true, but his argument certainly doesn't prove it.

Also, most of the people being attacked in his examples are prominent, or at least in the public eye in some respect. Who am I? I'm nobody. Just a random obscure blogger. I certainly wouldn't expect to be able to generate much vitriol. This is clearly an "apples an oranges" comparison.

If you want to use anecdotal evidence, consider that the phrase "I hate Christians" generates over 11,000 hits on Google. The phrase "I hate atheists" appears less than 1,300. Does that prove anything? Not at all, but if I wanted to I bet I could use that fact to generate a decent sounding argument.

Monday, May 05, 2008

A friend of my wife died last week. Friday night we headed out after work on the 10 hour drive to get back to New Mexico in time for the 10 AM funeral service.

Given how tired I was, I tried some Five Hour Energy. It definitely helped me stay awake. However, when I tried a second one (it was a long trip), I found that you can't get ANOTHER five hours out of another shot. (Hardly surprising.)

Downside. It tastes AWFUL! I tried berry and lemon lime. They were both absolutely awful. However, the lemon-lime tastes so bad it definitely gives you a head start on staying awake.

Peace.&nbsp; It is SHOW-DOWN TIME in Washington!&nbsp; Almighty God brings me to this
Capital City to work in tandem with Him in effecting His Grand Finale - once and
for all.

&nbsp;

And, Sir, He requires me to respectfully, hereby, request and require your
immediate and urgent aid and assistance - together with your official staff as
they were at 5:54PM, Monday, November 14, 2005 - in the execution of several
Divine matters that pertain to America - including at Inverrary, Lauderhill,
Broward County, Florida.&nbsp; This shall be for a season of no less than 120 days -
starting tomorrow, Monday, February 25, 2008, and with the use of the official
aircraft marked "29000".&nbsp; Thus saith the Lord God.

&nbsp;

My main mission to Washington with God is to commence, in earnest, the
REORDERING of the World Political System; the World Monetary System; and the
World Religious System - simultaneously.&nbsp; This includes the acquisition of
the&nbsp;specified global broadcasting and the identified banking and&nbsp;financial
institutions - and the aviation and maritime and other companies - needed to
facilitate the reordering process with the required Divine Sovereignty
and&nbsp;independence.

&nbsp;

Our first order of POLITICAL BUSINESS is to engage Pennsylvania Avenue, NW,
with the elimination of all of Capitol Hill by the Supernatural power of God -
and God's own vacuum- creation in a way that shall make HIS CHOSEN successorship
to the US Presidency and the renaming of The White House, etc, conveniently
expedient.

&nbsp;

Aligned to these purely&nbsp;Divine actions shall be the appearance of Ebenezer
the man of God at the US Supreme Court to close its door for a period of seven
(7) days.&nbsp; The man of God shall also appear at the Pentagon to lock the front
door for a period of 21 days - after which it shall be renamed TENTAGON - as
God&nbsp;shall end all wars.

&nbsp;

Ebenezer the man of God may also appear at the Republican and the
Democratic Party Headquarters to raise the Rod of God and to call upon God in a
way that shall, INSTANTLY, make it known that I mean business when I say here
that all campaigns for US Presidential Elections must cease no later than
February 28, 2008.

&nbsp;

All political parties (and workers/trade unions in America and Jamaica and
Britain) shall be ABOLISHED on a day that God and Ebenezer the man of God shall
work in tandem to abolish them.&nbsp; And all present ELECTED officials and their
known opponents shall - at the same time - be banned and barred from seeking and
obtaining elective or appointed office for the next 20 years in America and
Jamaica and Britain.&nbsp; Thus saith the Lord God.

&nbsp;

Our first order of MONETARY BUSINESS is to Consecrate and globally launch
The Supreme Dominion Bank Of Jesus Christ from inside of the US Treasury
Building - through which the Federal Reserve System shall be reclaimed; and the
World Bank and the IMF and the IDB shall be terminated; and the Ambassador Leo
Wanta Trust matter shall be intercepted; Corporate Tithes shall be collect; the
IRS eliminated; and the Year of Jubilee celebrated - with all that it
implies.

&nbsp;

And the first order of RELIGIOUS BUSINESS is to administer what God has in
mind regarding IMMIGRATION - and to Nationally Dedicate and Launch a Nationwide
project aimed at providing rehabilitative care - with the objective of&nbsp;social
restoration - for the HOMELESS on the County-wide basis.&nbsp; It is called the
Pilgrims' Place Project. And the first two centers are to be established in
Washington, D.C., and in Broward County, Florida, where the National
Headquarters Building will be dedicated by the end of&nbsp;May this year.

&nbsp;

Accordingly, Speaker Hastert, this afternoon, I did request a District Of
Columbia Police Officer to confirm to the US Secret Service that Ebenezer the
man of God is in Washington.&nbsp; But I am certain that the Officer did not see the
legions of Angels that come with me.&nbsp; So as I shall walk about Washington with
the WORD of God and the ROD of God in my hands - all Offiers and Agents and
other persons must remember to stand back no less than 9 feet - unless this man
of God beckons otherwise.

&nbsp;

And, Speaker Hastert,&nbsp;no person is to attempt to have any official dealings
with me unless such person is in your company.&nbsp; You, Sir, are the ONLY person
(other than those on my team) that Almighty God has chosen to engage with me
concerning the Governments - Federal,&nbsp;State, County, City, Township - in America
at this pivotal time.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

All communications to me must come through you.&nbsp; And I am to communicate
God's requirements concerning America to you.&nbsp; I trust that you will see this as
a great honor from God - as He affords you ANOTHER&nbsp;opportunity to do more and
better for America than in all of your years as a teacher or as a &nbsp;wrestler&nbsp;or
as a politician.&nbsp;&nbsp;

&nbsp;

Indeed, I look forward to respectfully communicating&nbsp;to you what Almighty
God - The Creator of America and the world - requires of you. In just a little
while, the whole world shall witness why it imperative for you to treat your
arrival in Washington tomorrow as a matter priority and urgency. Besides, God's
business requires haste. Both the US Secret Service and the Lauderhill Police
will aid you in contacting me soonest.

&nbsp;

Come March 1, 2008, God shall have me begin to prepare America and Jamaica
and Britain for the NEW YEAR which shall begin on September 1 - only six (6)
months away.&nbsp; So it is to be understood that my presence in Washington should be
taken with utmost seriousness - because it indicates that God means business and
so do I.&nbsp;

&nbsp;

The usual arrogance and defiance must be marked by humble submission to the
will and commands of God for America and the world as He brings me here to begin
to&nbsp;reorder&nbsp;all aspects of world affairs - starting with the&nbsp;world politicial and
monetary and religious systems&nbsp; To God be all the glory and praise!

&nbsp;

Yours on behalf of the Royal Government of the Kingdom of God on
Earth,

Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Lohan described Monroe's suicide as "tragic" and said it, along with the Jan. 22 death of actor Heath Ledger from an accidental overdose of prescription drugs, "are both prime examples of what this industry can do to someone."

The actress, who has been in and out of rehab after two arrests last year on drunken driving and cocaine charges, said she didn't know why the industry wreaked such havoc on some stars, adding, "I sure as hell wouldn't let it happen to me."

JANE Austen's timeless romance Pride and Prejudice has topped the list of the 101 best books ever written, according to Australian readers.

I first read this book in high school and thought it good. I re-read it while in college and it really struck a chord. After that, I started reading all of Jane Austen's novels several times a year. (Unfortunately, I no longer have the time for this.) P&P remains the best.

Of course, since the Da Vinci Code came in 4th in this survey, I'm not sure whether I'm in good company or not.

Friday, January 18, 2008

The man in hospital scrubs threw the toddler like a doll from a pedestrian overpass to the freeway humming with traffic. The 2 1/2-year-old boy fell 30 feet to the asphalt and was pronounced dead at the scene.

The horrifying incident Thursday on the highway cutting through the heart of the city shocked Honolulu residents, causing panicked parents to phone day care centers to check on their children.

Police arrested a 23-year-old man they say occasionally baby-sat the child after witnesses saw him throwing something, followed him and called authorities.

Saturday, January 12, 2008

A POLICEMAN has been arrested after allegedly crashing a police car into a power pole while drunk. The unmarked police car crashed into the pole at the corner of Stuart Highway and Bombing Rd at Winnellie, in Darwin.

Anyone think he's the only cop to drive drunk in an unmarked car? I'd like to say yes, but probability gets in my way.

Monday, January 07, 2008

MEXICO CITY - A 10-year-old Mexican boy dreaded returning to school after Christmas break so much that he glued his hand to his bed. Sandra Palacios spent nearly two hours Monday morning trying to free her son Diego's hand with water, oil and nail polish remover before calling authorities, police chief Jorge Camacho told The Associated Press from outside the northern city of Monterrey.

Alas, another plan was foiled:

Diego's hand was fine, and paramedics managed to unstick him in time for class.

Kehoe was accused of filling several small plastic bags with pancake mix. He got Pradel to sell it for $100 to a man in the restaurant, while Kehoe and Evans waited in a vehicle in the parking lot, according to police documents.

The trio planned to sell the fake heroin so they could buy real heroin in New Jersey, police said.

Thursday, December 27, 2007

So I started getting sick Sunday. Figured it was the flu or a stomach bug and I'd just ride it out. Tonight I finally gave up and my wife took me to the doctor. It is ... a stomach bug. Of course, by now, the large amount of gas I had had pretty much called that one. Doc said if I don't get better soon I should go to the hospital. Joy!

Sunday, December 23, 2007

We always thought they were tougher than that. An Australian Rules football player was rushed to a hospital after he accidentally swallowed a beer cap as he celebrated his team's victory. "They filled the premiership cup with beer and were passing it around," said Dr. Robert Douglas. The unnamed but embarrassed footballer "felt something in his throat, and it was a beer-bottle cap in his chest, stuck in his esophagus." Doctors were able to remove the cap by performing an endoscopy.

This week my firm announced promotions. As of January 1st, I will be a tax manager! That puts me two steps from partner, which probably means 6 years minimum. Still, a lot closer than I was before. Woo-hoo!

Wednesday, December 05, 2007

So I had on "The Universe" on the History Channel. They're discussing the possibility of time travel using wormholes.

As a sci-fi and comic book geek, I've actually thought about this quite a lot. Here's my 2 cents worth, in case you care.

We're here, therefore time travel is not possible. What I mean by this is, if time travel is possible, than someone in the future would have figured out how to do it. I accept as axiomatic, that if humans could time travel, someone would have already have messed things up so badly as to have destroyed our race.

From a purely factual basis, we're still here, therefore I don't believe it can happen. As a Christian, I doubt God would allow us access to something so potentially destructive. I mean, is there any really doubt that we'd screw this up?

Saturday, December 01, 2007

You are brilliant, insightful, and intuitive.
You understand people better than they would like to be understood.
Highly sensitive, you are good at putting together seemingly irrelevant details.
You figure out what's going on before anyone knows that anything is going on!

Why you would be a good superhero: You don't care what people think, and you'd do whatever needed to be done

Your biggest problem as a superhero: Feeling even more isolated than you do now

(WebMD) Wearing a pedometer and having a daily step goal can boost your activity level, according to a new analysis of research. "Our major result is pedometer users increased their physical activity," says Dena Bravata, MD, senior research scientist at Stanford University School of Medicine and a doctor in private practice in San Francisco. With her colleagues, she analyzed 26 published studies on the devices and the effect they have on increasing daily physical activity.

When I was first diagnosed as diabetic, my doctor told me he wanted me to take at least 10,000 steps a day to boost metabolism and get the weight down. I went out and bought a pedometer. After a few days it fell off who-knows-where and was gone. My wife bought me another. A few days later, it was gone too.

They were actually fine when I was up and being active. But almost inevitably it would fall off when I'd sit down. It was only a matter of time before they were lost. My mother-in-law was there when I realized I'd lost the second one. She offered to get me another, but I decided that two was enough.

Wednesday, November 21, 2007

A week ago, Latasha Norman disappeared from the campus of Jackson State University. Have you heard a word about it? There's a much better chance you've heard about the disappearance of Stacy Peterson in Chicago.

Why the difference?

The chief of the Jackson police believes it's because Latasha Norman is black. He's probably not far off base, at least on ONE reason. I've heard enough people mention it to know I'm not alone in the realization that almost all missing children who receive media attention are white and blonde. Why would we expect any different regarding missing adults.

While the potential drama involved of Drew Peterson being a serial killer has a definite chance of making this story bigger with the press, I think there's no doubt that missing minorities get less press coverage, at least on the national level.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

Amid the emotions surrounding the writers strike has been vitriol from some scribes toward any news outlet failing to echo their position — a “blame the messenger” attitude vented at coverage by Variety, among others.

[...]

In this way, strike rhetoric is oddly mirroring modern politics, where partisans now filter straight-ahead reporting through an “us vs. them” prism, seeking out accounts that buttress their views while shunning those that might challenge them.

This represents a relatively recent dynamic, fueled by the Rush Limbaugh era of talkradio [sic], cable news and the Internet, which barely existed during the last strike in 1988. (Emphasis added)

So let me get this straight. We have a trade reporter complaining that the writers are being nasty to them when they report things the writers don't like. The reporter goes on to conclude that they must be taking their cues from political activists who are mean to them when they report things the activists don't like. This is, apparently, because of talk radio. (And we all know who invented talk radio.) Therefore, the ugly tone of the writer's strike has effectively been laid at Rush Limbaugh's feet. (Hannity and Colmes catch shrapnel as well.

Like a great many New York Times readers who cook, or not, I often scan the Wednesday Dining section for useful recipes and interesting restaurant reviews. Imagine my surprise to find that this week’s major review — on the section’s front page, no less, is of a steakhouse located in a strip club. So, right off you know that the point of the review is an exercise in humor and titillation, and not an evaluation of the quality and value of the steak or the dining experience. But wait — T&A with your bourbon and beef is just so old hat. So some clever editor must have thought it would be a whole new thing to send the Times’s very “out” gay restaurant critic, Frank Bruni to write about the meat at the Penthouse club.

This is an entire article about how bad a NYT article about a steakhouse inside a strip club is. If someone knows what the point of this is, let me know because I'm at a loss. (I can see a brief blurb, but the sheer size of this nonsense is disturbing.

For a couple of days lots of news outlets were running a story about how some of Barack IBM's relatives may have owned slaves. SO WHAT? I find this a) totally unsurprising and b) totally irrelevant. No one should pay for the sins (or benefit from greatness) of their fathers. If you want to know what kind of man Obama is, this won't help you.

Monday, January 15, 2007

... but I've never really had an ice storm to deal with before. We haven't had a new downfall today and the skies have cleared, so that's good news. The bad news is that we now have, quite literally, a solid sheet of ice. It's amazing that my dogs don't just go sliding across the backyard; they don't even leave prints on our sheet of ice.

Sunday, January 14, 2007

Two men, one of them armed with a handgun, entered a Burger King restaurant in Salinas Saturday morning and robbed cash from the office before fleeing on food, Salinas police reported. (Emphasis added.)

Wednesday, December 27, 2006

So we're catching up on our DVR after Christmas. We just watched last Friday night's Late, Late, Show (we love Craig Ferguson). Unfortunately, they had Twisted Sister on singing O' Come all Ye Faithful. Let me just say that this was definitely not a success as a heavy metal song.